A non-government sustainable development association from the United States Wednesday kicked off an environmental awareness improvement program in this capital city of Guangdong Province, an economic powerhouse in southern China.

The U.S.-based Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) has chosen Guangdong as its first "environment partner" on the Chinese mainland. Under the program, it set up a research and development center focusing on environment, health and safety at the Lingnan School of the Zhongshan University in Guangzhou.

The center plans to train 1,800 managers on environment, health and safety control for enterprises in Guangdong province every year. After the training, the managers will help their businesses to become model observant of environmental protection laws and rules.

The center will begin to recruit trainees this fall.

ISC Sponsor Madeleine Kunin said that the manufacturing sector in Guangdong created an economic miracle, but at the same time, emitted a great deal of greenhouse gases.

The program would help local manufacturers to establish awareness of environmental protection through the training courses, so as to help them improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions and improve the health and safety conditions of workers, she noted.

Zhong Yangsheng, deputy head of the provincial legislature, said Guangdong had for years done a great job in improving air quality, harnessing local rivers and enhancing energy efficiency. However, he said, the province was still faced with such challenges as acid rain, climate change and insufficiency of land resources. The ISC program would be conducive to the sustainable development of Guangdong economy, Zhong added.

ISC will also carry out energy efficiency programs in three pilot communities in Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Shenzhen of Guangdong.

The ISC was founded in 1991 and has since launched 72 programs in 20 countries, with a total cost of 107 million U.S. dollars.